Taxi driver

Im the user who made the thread about this yesterday, and now that ive watch this i habe a question, i did enjoy the movie however i was kind of confused about why he instantly gave up on trying to kill the politician when he was spotted, and went and instead rescued iris. Was it him having a change it heart and realizing he had become what he hated? And went back to his original idea of cleaning up the streets? Or did i miss something or did something go over my head?

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It's been so long I honestly can't remember.

Thats a shame, im really trying to make this make sense to me

He didn't kill the politician because he couldn't, not because he had a change of heart, you brainlet.

Thats dumb, why have this whole build up to have it be "well i tried lol"

I think he was looking for a meaning in his life, so he tried to go out in a bang, when assassinating Palantine failed, he met Iris and decided to save her. But that's just my opinion and I've only seen that film twice.

This

think of the taxi driver character as just your average failed Sup Forums tard, when he fails to kill the politician he just gives up like everything else he gave up on his life (he has no discipline)

I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to get spotted by Palantine's people or secret service, plus he gets distracted with a new 'mission.'

I hope there's someone else here who can help you.

He didn't kill the politician because he fucked it up. He knew that the secret service knew what he looked like if he tried again. The only reason he tried killing the politician first was because he met Betsy before he met Iris, so it already was his "plan A".

He considered both of the girls to be corrupted by their respective father-figures (Betsy and the senator and Iris and her pimp), and thought that he could "save" them from their evil influence by killing said father-figures. The ironic thing is that he would have been named a villain if he had killed the politician, but when that didn't work out he was instead hailed as a hero for killing the pimp. In either case, he planned on dying as a martyr after doing the deed, but after he killed the pimp he ran out of bullets to shoot himself with.

What were those pills he was taking? Dexedrine / amphetamine or something?

how old are you, OP

It really helps the story and message.
Travis (if the ending is really not a dream while he s dying, which is a valid and cute theory) does more or less the same thing, goes on to murder.
He goes on to an even more violence rampage and blows the brains of a guy in front of the girl. However, this time he is praised as a hero. He is clearly mentally ill, but society chooses to glorify his violent act.
Had he not been spotted by the agents, he would have killed the politician and get imprisoned. He would be a "public enemy".
So his starting ambition shows how disconnected he is from reality (it's a dumb decision to begin with, he wouldn't clear the streets this way), but his actions show how people like him are glorified and praised as heroes by society under the right circumstances.

I'd say saving a girl from a pack of pedophiles is a tiny bit more heroic and noble than killing a politician because a girl you have a crush on supports him.

what's your point?

He didn't have a change of heart, he just didn't kill the politician because he couldn't

He ends up doing the same basic, fundamental thing (murdering people because he thinks it would clean the trash in the streets) and there are even parallels between the two figures he kills (they are both "leaders" of girls he cares about, Palantine to Iris and Sport to Jodie Foster). In both instances he sports the same buzzcut and uniform, and touts the same weapons. Even though in the end of the day he just brutally murders people for delusional reasons he is praised as a hero by society in the latter instance and would have been denounced as a villain in the former. The only thing separating him from those two fates was just dumb luck. It's Scorsese playing with the idea of fame and society's views towards violence and heroism.

no, I don't understand yours, why is it weird that people praise somebody who rescued a little girl from prostitution as a hero even if he used violence and killed 3 shitty people in the process?

Not him and it's weird but I think the film portrayed it in a way where all he really cared about was the act of killing. Calling him a murderer or a hero is just other people assigning labels to it.

>it's not weird
way to fuck up right from the start

Well the same guy people are praising as a hero would have been declared public enemy no.1 if chance just happened to swing a different way

Because as I said he is clearly fucked in the head and few moments earlier was willing to murder a politician over nothing. His "heroism "wasn't even genuine, he just wanted to go out as hero

The Mohawk and burning of the flowers was showing that what he was doing was going to be final. He believes that his whole life was pointing in that 'one direction' and now that he knows killing palatine wasn't his destiny he panics. I mean he couldn't go back to work with that Mohawk everyone would think hes mad.

dude he talked to the secret service guy remember? cant kill the politician when u have the fucking secret service watching you lol

If you want some in depth discussion of the film and an interpretation of it check this analysis out. Long watch but well worth
youtube.com/watch?v=8se9Zxy1Njo